A knee replacement

I've been cabin bound for about two weeks since Lib, my wife, had her recent knee replacement and I see that  it's been about a month since I've added anything to this blog. So here goes...

By now Lib and I pretty much have the surgery/recovery routine down rather well. This time last year she was getting over a horrendous back surgery and before that it was my two hip replacements. Thank goodness for modern medicine and Medicare. It is not the terror it used to be just a few decades ago.

She was a little behind schedule after the procedure and we had a significant and unplanned snow while she was at the hospital so we were one day later getting home. Bon Secour is a fine hospital where they really go the extra mile for their patients.

Knee recoveries are a little slower than hips. We knew that going in. She experienced significant discomfort while trying to get the ligaments and muscles that support walking to stretch and bend. Two weeks out. she still will need physical therapy to keep the joint flexing.

It is times such as these that I'm grateful for FaceBook even though it may be sifting through whatever about me it can profitably sell. Not too much. I'm not Catholic, but am encouraged by the character of the new Pope. Let us pray that he will have the courage and wisdom to clean house effectively. I've enjoyed the banter and pictures from Vijendra Trigatia. We share a common knowledge of Prospect Point and have built an online friendship which actually came from his accessing this blog. Just recently I have come to know one of his friends, Milena Maglich, who has recently written a published novel, "Riding the Tiger" I hope to read.
Others in my active circle include Natasha Cooper, a former string student who is studying architecture in Nebraska, and members of my family and new friends I have made here in Richmond and from my church at large.

Sudden snow on Wednesday

It's an interesting world and since I have an abundance of time I work at cultivating my on line circle. I can do this between the moments that Lib requires attention and assistance.

Bon Secour entrance and bell tower

Walkway at Bon Secour

The Grand Hotel

Several nights ago as I was browsing TV possibilities to watch I stumbled on a black and white movie called "The Grand Hotel". I immediately hit the record   button vowing to see as much of it as possible and here is "the rest of the    story." 

In the late 1960's or early 1970's it was my good fortune to attend and be   a part of a Conductors' Institute orchestra sponsored by the American Symphony   Orchestra   League at Orkney Springs, Virginia. Its purpose was to provide     additional training for aspiring young conductors and the master conductor in  charge of instruction was Dr. Richard Lert from California. He was nearly 80   when I first encountered him. The assembled orchestra was made up of many "name"musicians  who would be recognized by their contemporaries the world over and the rest of us privileged to share stands with them, were just fortunate.

My musical naïveté prevented me from immediately recognizing who he was or why this obviously older man was the master teacher. After the first institute my musical eyes were opened to how much more there was to the art of music making and conducting. I was able to return to this happy experience each summer for the next ten years. It was a revelation to compare recordings of the Institute    orchestra with those of other major national symphonies.

In the program notes about Dr. Lert was usually a phrase " he was married   to

Vicki Baum, the author of Grand Hotel, which was made into the movie of the same name." There usually followed a brief biographical sketch about their life in Europe before emigrating to America and the west coast. In those pre computer days it would have been difficult to access the novel and the movie was ancient history and not available. As time passed there were little   snippets to the story that came my way which helped me retain the name.

Thankfully these historic movies from early Hollywood are still being aired on television. Just as being at the right time and place to benefit from the artistry of Lert, I was treated to a rare replay of the Award winning movie made a   few years  before my birth. Painstaking scholarship has resurrected the autobiography of Vicki Baum's early childhood, young adult years and how she met and married  Richard Lert. It has burgeoned unbelievably over time and was         immediately  accessible online. 

It became a fascinating read to learn how she developed her writing skills to become one of the glitterati of her time both in Europe and America. To follow the journey of the Lerts from Europe to America was to participate in the adventure that intellectuals and artists faced in the years between the World Wars.  We truly live now in the age of information, where an average person may often easily access pertinent details about persons who have made significant contributions to the human experience.

As a 75 year old I knew my great grandfather and dimly recall his stories of  life as a child during the Civil War. In my thirties I learned to know briefly Richard Lert. He in turn had met Brahms. Those of us who have survived into the 21st century can remember live links into the past century that give us unique and rare perspectives of that world.

Saraswati

I found her in an Indian shop at Estes Park a number of years ago on the way home from a Woodstock Old Students Association conference. Hand carved wood statues have always attracted me, and she was sort of in a back corner when I spotted her.

Several things drew my attention. Looking closely at the work showed some skill had gone into her creation. There were exquisitely carved details. She was a musician playing an Indian instrument resembling a guitar. She stood about 8 inches tall and would work well with the few others in my collection. Her name was Saraswati, according to the paper that came with her,and was the Hindu goddess of music, science, and knowledge to name a few of her attributes. In the Hindu mythology she  was present and necessary at the Creation.

Wikipedia has a large and interesting article about her. As an American musician who lived his childhood in India reading about Saraswati was fascinating. In articles about the mind and intelligence the inference is often that musical study and performance enhance mental abilities.In Genesis a musician is named early on with others who had important skills. Recently a newspaper article related the finding of a bone flute that appeared to be 30,000 years old.So music has apparently been associated with our humanity prominently for quite some time.

During this season of merriment and music she reminds me of the mystical emergence of music in the human mind and its importance for our health and happiness.

Dolce Vita

Chicken fingers with honey mustard dip.

When we first moved to Richmond our daughter’s family introduced us to the Dolce Vita  restaurant. We were impressed by the staff’s efficiency and friendliness and their swift attention to our dining needs.
Now it is five years later and we have visited a number of restaurants near us, but this is the one we return to again and again. What initially attracted us to them still prevails.
Dolce Vita is a family place with the emphasis on family. It has a real Italian ambiance without being overpowering. There is a variety of entree’s from which to select. A family may dine here without breaking the bank.

Lib and I were there for a light supper. I had chicken fingers with a honey mustard dip, she had a sampler platter of calamari, onion rings, and cheese stuffed ravioli.  Delicious garlic rolls complimented the meal.  

We went early before the main dinner crowd had arrived so we had a relaxing meal together.. 

Where they cook it....

 

A Perfect Fall Day

Blue Ridge Fall

My Kingdom for a Quilt....

For some time now Lib and I had discussed buying a new quilt for our bed. The one there now had been there for quite some time and was beginning to look a little frayed and timeworn. I knew sort of the design I was looking for (for most of our marriage Lib has picked furniture patterns and other household items based on her aesthetics as we have irreconcilable differences there. Now I get to pick and she is slowly coming around to my artistic values. Sometimes there are just either/or choices and one or the other has to acquiece.)

It’s been quite an adventure. First I went online and showed her the sort of patterns I was interested in. They are strong, big, colorful and usually geometric. I like patterns that are bold and in your face so to speak. These were  what I was interested in. Quilts with similar patterns are available online for about $800-$2000. They are really works of art and way beyond what we could afford. The two on the left were types that appealed to me

Last week we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and perused the choices they had. Not quite as dramatic but similar in a more subdued way and for around $200. We had heard of a Mennonite Quilt Auction in Harrisonburg this past Saturday so thought we might make a trip there to see and appraise quilts, the Fall leaves on the mountains, and perhaps visit Lib’s shut in sister.

 We were on the road by 7:00 am and arrived at the Rockingham County Fair Grounds near Harrisonburg where the auction was held. This is no small affair. Money from the auction goes to support Mennonite charities and there are literally hundreds of  quilts from which to choose. We registered, received a bidding number and entered a very large auditorium like room. There must have been at least  800 or more interested people gathered there. At 9:30 the action began.
Suffice it to say the event is well organized. Between the large and beautiful quilts up for bid there were art items, furniture ,and knick knacks. One bidder paid $80 for a large hot cup of fresh Brunswick stew! It was entertaining, but we realized that unless we were prepared to
pay a reasonable king's ransom, we were not going to leave with one of the really beautiful ones. They were bid very close to the prices seen online.We left the auction at noon and went to the Dayton Farmer's Market for lunch and some more looking around. Next we spent some time with Lib's shut in sister and her husband in Bridgewater. The last picture is from the overlook on Afton Mountain on the return trip home. Leaves were still green. A good day all in all.

At the auction

Lib looking over goodies at Farmer's Market

A Come Back....

I am so proud of my wife Lib! Around this time in December she had a major back operation to correct several severe problems that were making her life miserable One of the hopes she expressed to her surgeon was to be able to do her normal homemaking work, including the entertaining of family. They told her that they felt a 75% recovery was definitely possible. Tonight she proved that even more was possible.

Several weeks ago she began planning this evenings dinner. It was to be a celebratory dinner, marking Jeff and Cathy's 19th anniversary and the beginning of Devin's going to middle school. She also invited Jimmie and Sharon, Cathy's in-laws, to enhance the celebration.

Lib's goal was to pretty much do it all herself. This morning she peeled the apples and baked the apple pie.
                                                           

Lib mixing the poppy seed chicken recipe.

Our dining area ...

Chicken recipe into the oven.

Lib and Bill after the dinner...

I sort of tidied up the premises. This afternoon she cooked the chicken, prepared  the poppy seed chicken,  set the table, fixed the peas, and did the other things to make our families feel welcome and comfortable.
It was a fun evening!!